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Time to Move Ahead:
As most of you sitting here this evening know, I strongly encouraged the leaders of the relevant Congressional committees to do all they could to hammer out a bipartisan bill, in order to seek a win-win solution for which both sides of the aisle could proudly claim credit.
After months of effort the committee chairs tell me I need to become resigned to the reality that broad bipartisan consensus cannot be achieved--for many of the reasons I mentioned earlier. It's no use wasting more time, they say. Not all, but almost all Republicans will vote against any meaningful reform.
We will not stop working to persuade Republican lawmakers to vote on the merits of draft legislation and to avoid voting simply to "break" me and embarrass my administration.
But I have decided to move forward and have asked House and Senate leaders to give me a bill to sign before Thanksgiving. The bill I want is quite simple. It will extend insurance for quality health care to ALL Americans. It will have a robust public option to create the kind of competition that will bring costs down.
And If More is Needed"
There are additional ways to obtain the necessary funds for transformative health care reform. They do not require giant leaps of imagination.
I was able to do some reading while on vacation. And I have come to the conclusion that, by any reasonable measure, we are giving too much money to trying to project power abroad. We say it is for "defense," but much of it goes toward an eventually futile effort to maintain a Pax Americana, in the model of Rome and the former British empire.
I have decided it makes no sense to throw untold billions more into adventures like Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which have only tenuous relationship to our nation's security.
Yes, critics will criticize me for changing my mind. And in response I would simply cite Emerson's dictum: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
Some 2,500 years ago, Alexander of Macedonia tried to "prevail" in Afghanistan. He and his army were on their way to China and invaded Afghanistan, only to encounter formidable mountains and even more formidable "militants." For some strange reason, those "militants" did not like foreign invaders, so they started whittling away at the flanks of Alexander's army.
After conferring with his officers and looking up at those mountains, Alexander decided to change his mind and go back to Asia Minor. It has been suggested that this may be why he deserves "the Great" after his name. No foolish consistency there.
Sadly, in the centuries that followed, the Persians, Indians, Mongols, British, Russians learned nothing from Alexander, preferring foolish consistency before they were driven out of Afghanistan, suffering terrible losses and achieving nothing.
Economists speak of "opportunity costs"--a fancy term for what else one could do with funds, rather squander them on feckless adventures abroad. Well, funding universal health care is one worthy thing we can do"and will do. And eventually, we shall be able to redirect billions from projecting power abroad to projecting compassion here at home.
Sending in the Marines
The tendency has been to "send in the Marines." I am going to take a different lesson from the past and send in a Marine--just one.
